


Through Eyes of Sapphire

by KnightofIris



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Father-Daughter Relationship, Post-Awakening, this is so dumb, why did i even write this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-14
Updated: 2016-06-14
Packaged: 2018-07-15 02:00:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7201622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KnightofIris/pseuds/KnightofIris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Princess Lucina does not quite understand the world around her yet, but she knows that she once had a mother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Through Eyes of Sapphire

**Author's Note:**

> This was suppose to come out on Mother's day, but I've been busy with lots of stuff lately. Please note that this isn't beta'd and as such you're going into my unedited ramblings. Any critiques of the work are highly appreciated as I want to get better at this story telling thing.

There are few things in the world Lucina doesn’t have. Being the crown princess of Ylisse she’s showered with gifts and sweets whenever she so much as mutters a request. It’s hard to think she would ever be without anything, really. And yet, Lucina can’t help but feel the envy creep into her heart whenever her friends leave with their mothers by their side.

She has no memories of her own mother. She left Lucina and her father before the little princess could ever make one. And yet she knows the woman’s face thanks to the portrait her father kept in the royal library. It’s large, but not as big as the one of Aunt Emmeryn nor the one of her father. However, she can see the care and talent that went into the painting.

She’s beautiful, Lucina thinks, like one of the princesses in Aunt Sumia’s books. Her hair is as white as the snow the tiny girl frolics in with Owain and Cynthia during the winter months, her eyes are a bright brown that looks like the amber Lady Tharja has shown her. On her face is the kindest smile the small princess has ever seen; it’s warm, inviting, and _so familiar_. It’s probably why her father enjoys sitting underneath it whenever he reads her, Cynthia, and Owain heroic tales of Ylisse’s heros.

Lucina asks her father one day why the portrait is in the library. If she was the queen it should have been hanging in the throne room for all to see, right? Her father’s answer is quite simple. “She loved to read.” He told her, a small smile on his face. “Your mother would stay up until the early hours just reading. Sometimes I would have to carry her back to bed just so she could sleep.” 

The young princess sees how her father looks at the painting with both adoration and sadness. Even at the age of four, she knows her father loved her mother more than anyone in the world. And yet, no matter how hard the girl thinks, she can’t remember anything about the woman. It leaves a bitter taste in the child’s mouth, more bitter than any nasty tonic Lady Maribelle made her drink when she was sick.

Lucina resolves then she wants to learn more about her mother.

She asks more and more questions as the days go on. ‘How did you meet? What was her favorite food? Did she like to sword fight?’ Her father always answers them honestly and with a fond smile (though he grimaces a bit when he answers ‘liver and eel pie’). It’s enough to entrance Lucina and make her mind race.

One night she asks something that’s been bouncing around her head for weeks. It slips out just before bed, while her father tucks her in.

“Did mother love me?”

Her father pauses, his brows raise at Lucina’s out-of-the-blue question.

“Of course she did.” He gives a soft chuckle. “She loved you more than all the stars in the night sky, my princess.”

Lucina grips her blanket tight, furrowing her brow in confusion.

“Then why did she leave?”

His smile falters for a moment, a tiny twitch that Lucina almost misses. “Your mother…” Her father pauses. “She loved you. And I know, wherever she is, she still loves you. It’s because your mother loved you so much that she left.” Lucina’s confusion only grew. “I know it’s hard to understand, but she wanted to protect our future, _your_ future. A future that a very bad person wanted to destroy.”

“So mother was a hero?”

Her father’s smile grows.

“Yes, my light. One of the greatest heros Ylisse has ever known.”

Lucina’s eyes widen. “Even greater than Lord Marth?” 

“Perhaps,” he laughs, “but that is a topic for another night. Now, it’s time for princesses to go to sleep.”

Lucina gives her best pout, but it seems her father would have none of it. He gives her a soft kiss on the forehead and takes up the candle on her nightstand. “Sleep well, Lucina.”

The young princess smiles to her father just before he shuts the door. “Good night father.”

That night she dreams of darkness; a deep, terrible darkness that she knows wants to eat her whole. Its ravenous oblivion leaks into her soul and leaves her absolutely petrified. Lucina can’t help but cry; cry for her father, her elder sister and brother, her aunts, her uncles. However, no one answers her call. She struggles, kicking and screaming to try and find something, _anything_ but she can’t. 

Eventually, the little princess gives in, curls into a ball, and sobs harder than she’s ever before. She feels the darkness creep up her legs, her arms, even tugging on her hair. 

“Father…” She wails. “Someone… help…”

Lucina sits there, alone for what feels like an eternity until a rustling startles her. At first she’s scared, scared of a monster come to gobble her up. She looks up with wide cerulean eyes, expecting a six eyed terror, but sees only a person clad in a hooded robe smiling down at her with a hand held out to touch her.

The tiny royal is afraid to trust the stranger, however something in the back of her head tells her that this person wouldn’t hurt her. She’s apprehensive, but lets the stranger come closer. And as they do the Lucina can feel the darkness recede further and further into the oblivion from whence it came. 

They take Lucina’s hand, softly, into their own and lead her through the seemingly, never ending blackness. She wonders to herself how this person knows where they’re going. Had they been here a long time? It must be scary if they did.

The walk feels like forever, just the two of them in the dark void together. It’s still scary, but the strange warmth the stranger’s hand radiates gives a small hope that everything will be okay.

Lucina can feel her legs shaking from exhaustion after a while. She wants to lay down in the darkness and let it consume her, but the stranger’s hand keeps pulling her, telling her to keep going. She doesn’t dare let go of their hand lest her legs give out from under her.

When she finally sees light her stride picks up. She can feel it’s warmth over powering the stranger’s hand. Her legs no longer quake with exhaustion; she knows they’re close to home. Then the stranger lets go of her hand. For a moment Lucina stumbles and looks back at them. They’re still smiling, but Lucina can feel a sadness radiating from it. It’s sometimes how her father looks when he looks at her mother’s painting. The princess holds out her hand to them, but they shake their head. Without a word, the hooded stranger gestures her to the light. 

Lucina hesitates for a moment, but relents and lets the warmth envelop her. In her ears she hears a distorted whisper from back in the darkness.

_“Soon.”_

____

 

Two weeks after the nightmare her father gets word of bandits harassing a southern border town. He tells her to be brave while he’s away dealing with it. “I won’t be long, maybe a week at most.” 

Lucina is sad, but hides it best she can. Her back is straight and head held high as she watches him leave with Aunt Lissa and Uncle Frederick. She’s getting too old for her dad to tuck her in anyway, she needs to learn to be more like an adult.

Even so she misses her father over the week he’s gone. Several times she even sneaks into the library to try and read the stories he would pick out for her. They’re much harder to understand than she imagined, all the words are piled together with small font and no pictures. She understands some of them, but there are many her tutors have yet to explain to her. Still, Lucina does her best to read the novels until her nan comes and escorts her to her lessons.

For Lucina, it’s a very long and boring week.

When her father returns Lucina is over the moon. She hugs him tight and laughs when he picks her up. The week he was gone felt like an eternity to the princess. She prayed that her father didn’t have to leave on any more bandit excursions soon.

He pulls her back to arm’s length with the biggest smile dawned on his face. “I have a surprise for you.” His eyes are alight with excitement Lucina hasn’t seen in quite some time. “What is it?” Her stomach is in knots. Did he get her a real sword to practice with? Oh, maybe a new adventure book for her to read. So many answers run through her head as she’s set back down.

“Close your eyes.”

She obeys, a bit hesitantly. Her father has never hidden anything from her, even with presents. Why would he start now?

Lucina hears the rustling of clothes, then footsteps. They’re unfamiliar though, too heavy to be Aunt Lissa, but too light to be Uncle Frederick. She grasps onto her father like a lifeline, shaking with anticipation.

“You can open them.” Lucina can hear the excitement in her father’s voice. She opens her eyes and lays them on a familiar figure.

For a moment, Lucina wonders if her father took her back to the library. Almost everything about her is the same, the clothes, the skin, even her hair. The only difference is her eyes shining brighter thanks to the tears threatening to fall.

“Hello Lucina.” She steps closer, slowly. It reminds Lucina of how Uncle Donnel would approach skittish animals. “Do you remember me?”

“Mom.” It leaves her mouth without thinking.

The woman-- no, _her mother’s_ \-- shoulders shake ever so slightly and the tears are crawling down her tan cheeks. “Luci.” Her voice is quivering. “My little Luci.”

Lucina lets go of her father and runs into her mother’s arms. She cries for her over and over, hugging her tight. She’s won’t leave again, Lucina thinks, not if she holds her tight enough. Her mother’s grip on her is just as crushing and Lucina wonders if she is thinking the same thing.

Her father joins in on the hug, then Aunt Lissa, Uncle Donnel, Owain, and so on and so forth until the entire entrance hall is blocked by the Shepherd’s bodies squished together in a giant group hug. Lucina realizes in that moment just how much everyone loved her mother, how wonderful she must have been. She really was the perfect fairy tale queen.

Over the sobs and happy cheers, Lucina hears her father whisper a loving phrase to her mother.

“Welcome back.”


End file.
